diff --git a/autosubmit/autosubmit.py b/autosubmit/autosubmit.py
index 8653285dc8b542c65076e3918e27ee40cce9847e..1895cd82b4349d982054706922f34499977a9893 100644
--- a/autosubmit/autosubmit.py
+++ b/autosubmit/autosubmit.py
@@ -4798,7 +4798,7 @@ class Autosubmit:
             raise AutosubmitError(e.message, e.code, e.trace)
         except AutosubmitCritical as e:
             # TODO: == "" or is None?
-            if e.trace == "":
+            if e.trace == "" or not e.trace:
                 e.trace = traceback.format_exc()
             raise AutosubmitCritical(e.message, e.code, e.trace)
         except BaseException as e:
diff --git a/autosubmit/job/job_list.py b/autosubmit/job/job_list.py
index eca3aa9ca330e08a837bbbeaa83eb574b1970e71..6e924f1093603d0ca4a2309895f1ca7e0b8adda9 100644
--- a/autosubmit/job/job_list.py
+++ b/autosubmit/job/job_list.py
@@ -207,6 +207,8 @@ class JobList(object):
             self.graph = self.load()
             if type(self.graph) is not DiGraph:
                 self.graph = nx.DiGraph()
+        except AutosubmitCritical:
+            raise
         except:
             self.graph = nx.DiGraph()
         self._dic_jobs = DicJobs(date_list, member_list, chunk_list, date_format, default_retrials, as_conf)
@@ -2322,6 +2324,8 @@ class JobList(object):
         Log.info("Loading JobList")
         try:
             return self._persistence.load(self._persistence_path, self._persistence_file)
+        except AutosubmitCritical:
+            raise
         except:
             Log.printlog(
                 "Autosubmit will use a backup for recover the job_list", 6010)
diff --git a/autosubmit/job/job_list_persistence.py b/autosubmit/job/job_list_persistence.py
index bb884ba439ef5cde85ff6b3d25e7710236fb4acd..951771bed1523e908eb32efedfa784544d130cde 100644
--- a/autosubmit/job/job_list_persistence.py
+++ b/autosubmit/job/job_list_persistence.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import pickle
 from sys import setrecursionlimit
 import shutil
 from autosubmit.database.db_manager import DbManager
-from log.log import Log
+from log.log import AutosubmitCritical, Log
 
 
 class JobListPersistence(object):
@@ -66,7 +66,14 @@ class JobListPersistencePkl(JobListPersistence):
 
         """
         path = os.path.join(persistence_path, persistence_file + '.pkl')
-        if os.path.exists(path):
+        try:
+            open(path).close()
+        except PermissionError:
+            raise AutosubmitCritical(f'Permission denied to read {path}', 7012)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            Log.printlog(f'File {path} does not exist. ',Log.WARNING)
+            return list()
+        else:
             # copy the path to a tmp file randomseed to avoid corruption
             path_tmp = f'{path}.tmp_{os.urandom(8).hex()}'
             shutil.copy(path, path_tmp)
@@ -82,9 +89,6 @@ class JobListPersistencePkl(JobListPersistence):
                 graph.nodes[u]["job"]._serial_platform = None
                 graph.nodes[u]["job"].submitter = None
             return graph
-        else:
-            Log.printlog('File {0} does not exist'.format(path),Log.WARNING)
-            return list()
 
     def save(self, persistence_path, persistence_file, job_list, graph):
         """
diff --git a/bin/autosubmit b/bin/autosubmit
index 4280dc71ef5677d3c4b2b70d2679ed389af56618..21c056019acadd564af7329d6ea315a0a6a1949e 100755
--- a/bin/autosubmit
+++ b/bin/autosubmit
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 import traceback
 from io import StringIO  # for handling the traceback print
+from contextlib import suppress
 
 scriptdir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0]))
 sys.path.append(scriptdir)
@@ -31,6 +32,18 @@ from log.log import Log, AutosubmitCritical , AutosubmitError
 from autosubmit.autosubmit import Autosubmit
 
 
+def exit_from_error(e):
+    with suppress(FileNotFoundError, PermissionError):
+        os.remove(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock"))
+    try:
+        if not e.trace:
+            Log.debug("Trace: {0}", str(e.trace))
+        Log.critical("{1} [eCode={0}]", e.code, e.message)
+    except:
+        Log.critical("An Unknown error occurred: {0}.\n Please report it to Autosubmit Developers through Git", str(e))
+    Log.info("More info at https://autosubmit.readthedocs.io/en/master/troubleshooting/error-codes.html")
+    os._exit(1)
+
 # noinspection PyProtectedMember
 def main():
     try:
@@ -41,37 +54,11 @@ def main():
             os._exit(return_value)
         os._exit(0)
     except AutosubmitError as e:
-        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock")):
-            os.remove(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock"))
-        if e.trace is not None:
-            if e.trace != "": # trace might be int.
-                Log.error("Trace: {0}", e.trace)
-        Log.critical("{1} [eCode={0}]", e.code, e.message)
-        Log.info("More info at https://autosubmit.readthedocs.io/en/master/troubleshooting/error-codes.html")
-        os._exit(1)
+        exit_from_error(e)
     except AutosubmitCritical as e:
-        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock")):
-            os.remove(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock"))
-        str(traceback.print_exc())
-        if e.trace is not None or e.trace == "":
-            Log.error("Trace: {0}", e.trace)
-        Log.critical("{1} [eCode={0}]", e.code, e.message)
-
-        Log.info("More info at https://autosubmit.readthedocs.io/en/master/troubleshooting/error-codes.html")
-        os._exit(1)
-    except Exception as e:
-        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock")):
-            os.remove(os.path.join(Log.file_path, "autosubmit.lock"))
-        Log.error("Trace: {0}", str(e))
-        if "temporarily unavailable" in str(e):
-            Log.critical(
-                "{0}\nAnother instance of autosubmit is running on this experiment. If this is not the case, delete autosubmit.lock".format(str(e)), 7000)
-        else:
-            exception_stream = StringIO()
-            traceback.print_exc(file=exception_stream)
-            raise AutosubmitCritical("Unhandled error: If you see this message, please report it in Autosubmit's GitLab project", 7000, str(e))
-        os._exit(1)
-
+        exit_from_error(e)
+    except BaseException as e:
+        exit_from_error(e)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()