diff --git a/src/labthings_fastapi/server/fallback.py b/src/labthings_fastapi/server/fallback.py
index 41de9cb0..1b436aab 100644
--- a/src/labthings_fastapi/server/fallback.py
+++ b/src/labthings_fastapi/server/fallback.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self.labthings_server = None
         self.labthings_error = None
         self.log_history = None
+        self.html_code = 500
 
 
 app = FallbackApp()
@@ -19,8 +20,14 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 ERROR_PAGE = """
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
-<head>
+<head lang="en">
     <title>LabThings</title>
+    <style>
+    pre {
+        white-space: pre-wrap;
+        overflow-wrap: anywhere;
+    }
+    </style>
 </head>
 <body>
     <h1>LabThings Could't Load</h1>
@@ -44,7 +51,7 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
 @app.get("/")
 async def root():
-    error_message = f"{app.labthings_error!r}"
+    error_message = f"{app.labthings_error}"
     # use traceback.format_exception to get full traceback as list
     # this ends in newlines, but needs joining to be a single string
     error_w_trace = "".join(format_exception(app.labthings_error))
@@ -65,7 +72,7 @@ async def root():
         logging_info = f"    <p>Logging info</p>\n    <pre>{app.log_history}</pre>"
 
     content = content.replace("{{logginginfo}}", logging_info)
-    return HTMLResponse(content=content, status_code=500)
+    return HTMLResponse(content=content, status_code=app.html_code)
 
 
 @app.get("/{path:path}")
