diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 7c2b5683e..cc7b65f08 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -54,3 +54,4 @@ List of contributors, in chronological order:
 * Boxjan (https://github.com/boxjan)
 * Mauro Regli (https://github.com/reglim)
 * Alexander Zubarev (https://github.com/strike)
+* Nicolas Dostert (https://github.com/acdn-ndostert)
diff --git a/api/mirror.go b/api/mirror.go
index 41bcbe343..70ff71565 100644
--- a/api/mirror.go
+++ b/api/mirror.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func apiMirrorsDrop(c *gin.Context) {
 			snapshots := snapshotCollection.ByRemoteRepoSource(repo)
 
 			if len(snapshots) > 0 {
-				return &task.ProcessReturnValue{Code: http.StatusInternalServerError, Value: nil}, fmt.Errorf("won't delete mirror with snapshots, use 'force=1' to override")
+				return &task.ProcessReturnValue{Code: http.StatusForbidden, Value: nil}, fmt.Errorf("won't delete mirror with snapshots, use 'force=1' to override")
 			}
 		}