diff --git a/lofarquery_lta.py b/lofarquery_lta.py
index 346b857630e972e160c38f7c0e3ad9cb8a118d0a..2a3818faf8fd8408d75109820d7ac8fa6bc5c07b 100644
--- a/lofarquery_lta.py
+++ b/lofarquery_lta.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from configparser import ConfigParser
 import logging
 import os.path, os
 from typing import *
+import urllib.parse
 import pandas
 
 CONNECTION_STRING = 'oracle+cx_oracle://{user}:{password}@db.lofar.target.rug.nl/?service_name=db.lofar.target.rug.nl'
@@ -51,7 +52,8 @@ def parse_args():
 
 
 def create_db_engine(user: str, password: str):
-    connection_string: str = CONNECTION_STRING.format(user=user, password=password)
+    connection_string: str = CONNECTION_STRING.format(user=urllib.parse.quote_plus(user),
+                                                      password=urllib.parse.quote_plus(password))
 
     return create_engine(connection_string)