diff --git a/src/basic/string-util.h b/src/basic/string-util.h
index 055ab66668..ff5efbcf55 100644
--- a/src/basic/string-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/string-util.h
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ static inline char *truncate_nl(char *s) {
         return truncate_nl_full(s, NULL);
 }
 
-static inline char *skip_leading_chars(const char *s, const char *bad) {
+static inline char* skip_leading_chars(const char *s, const char *bad) {
         if (!s)
                 return NULL;
 
diff --git a/src/journal-remote/journal-gatewayd.c b/src/journal-remote/journal-gatewayd.c
index 08ea94f6d4..dd91f22923 100644
--- a/src/journal-remote/journal-gatewayd.c
+++ b/src/journal-remote/journal-gatewayd.c
@@ -348,6 +348,9 @@ static int request_parse_range_entries(
         const char *colon;
         int r;
 
+        assert(m);
+        assert(entries_request);
+
         colon = strchr(entries_request, ':');
         if (!colon)
                 m->cursor = strdup(entries_request);
@@ -376,6 +379,9 @@ static int request_parse_range_time(
         const char *colon;
         int r;
 
+        assert(m);
+        assert(time_request);
+
         colon = strchr(time_request, ':');
         if (!colon)
                 return -EINVAL;
@@ -440,17 +446,14 @@ static int request_parse_range(
                 return -EINVAL;
 
         m->n_skip = 0;
+
         range_after_eq = startswith(range, "entries=");
-        if (range_after_eq) {
-                range_after_eq += strspn(range_after_eq, WHITESPACE);
-                return request_parse_range_entries(m, range_after_eq);
-        }
+        if (range_after_eq)
+                return request_parse_range_entries(m, skip_leading_chars(range_after_eq, /* bad = */ NULL));
 
         range_after_eq = startswith(range, "realtime=");
-        if (range_after_eq) {
-                range_after_eq += strspn(range_after_eq, WHITESPACE);
-                return request_parse_range_time(m, range_after_eq);
-        }
+        if (range_after_eq)
+                return request_parse_range_time(m, skip_leading_chars(range_after_eq, /* bad = */ NULL));
 
         return 0;
 }