diff --git a/api/ble.py b/api/ble.py
index 8d56311..df6a541 100644
--- a/api/ble.py
+++ b/api/ble.py
@@ -105,7 +105,13 @@ async def _scan_once() -> List[str]:
         A list of MAC addresses (upper-case as returned by Bleak).
     """
     log.debug("Starting one-shot BLE scan (timeout = %.1fs)", SCAN_TIMEOUT)
-    devices = await BleakScanner.discover(timeout=SCAN_TIMEOUT)
+    try:
+        devices = await BleakScanner.discover(timeout=SCAN_TIMEOUT)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"Error reading BLE data - {e}")
+        this_result = None
+        if "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied" in e:
+            return []        
 
     return [dev.address for dev in devices if _is_match(dev.address, dev.name)]