diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/serialization/internal/ByteableMarshaller.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/serialization/internal/ByteableMarshaller.java
index 2e7f415ce..7e7dd742c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/serialization/internal/ByteableMarshaller.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/serialization/internal/ByteableMarshaller.java
@@ -103,7 +103,14 @@ public class ByteableMarshaller<E extends Byteable>
 
     @Override
     public void write(Bytes bytes, E e) {
-        bytes.write(e.bytes(), e.offset(), size);
+        Bytes eBytes = e.bytes();
+        if (eBytes != null) {
+            bytes.write(eBytes, e.offset(), size);
+        } else {
+            throw new NullPointerException("You are trying to write a byteable object of " +
+                    e.getClass() + ", " +
+                    "which bytes are not assigned. I. e. most likely the object is uninitialized.");
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapTest.java b/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapTest.java
index 54906f545..60f897a35 100755
--- a/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapTest.java
@@ -1398,8 +1398,7 @@ public class ChronicleMapTest {
         }
     }
 
-    @Ignore("JIRA raised for failing test HCOLL-222")
-    @Test
+    @Test(expected = NullPointerException.class)
     public void testPutLongValue() throws IOException {
         final ChronicleMapBuilder<CharSequence, LongValue> builder = ChronicleMapBuilder
                 .of(CharSequence.class, LongValue.class)