diff --git a/docker-compose/device-docker.yml b/docker-compose/device-docker.yml
index 6cf76c650df4b37f204260fa38b2750ff2bb95b0..5386ead921b386741e62febeab399f3007a79281 100644
--- a/docker-compose/device-docker.yml
+++ b/docker-compose/device-docker.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - ..:/opt/lofar/tango:rw
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:rw # we want to control our sibling containers, NOT do docker-in-docker (dind)
-    user: ${CONTAINER_EXECUTION_UID}:${DOCKER_GID} # user that starts this container by definition has access rights to docker
+    user: 1000:${DOCKER_GID} # uid 1000 is the default "tango" user
     environment:
       - TANGO_HOST=${TANGO_HOST}
     entrypoint: