diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/finalise/prune.ts b/lib/workers/repository/finalise/prune.ts
index 3546ec41b746da..88115d6daf5040 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/finalise/prune.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/finalise/prune.ts
@@ -5,16 +5,18 @@ import { logger } from '../../../logger';
 import { platform } from '../../../modules/platform';
 import { ensureComment } from '../../../modules/platform/comment';
 import { scm } from '../../../modules/platform/scm';
-import { getBranchList } from '../../../util/git';
+import { getBranchList, setUserRepoConfig } from '../../../util/git';
 
 async function cleanUpBranches(
-  { pruneStaleBranches: enabled }: RenovateConfig,
+  config: RenovateConfig,
   remainingBranches: string[]
 ): Promise<void> {
-  if (enabled === false) {
+  if (!config.pruneStaleBranches) {
     logger.debug('Branch/PR pruning is disabled - skipping');
     return;
   }
+  // set Git author in case the repository is not initialized yet
+  setUserRepoConfig(config);
   for (const branchName of remainingBranches) {
     try {
       const pr = await platform.findPr({
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/index.ts b/lib/workers/repository/index.ts
index 5352b8123ed482..0ecd80d1fba290 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/index.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/index.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import { GlobalConfig } from '../../config/global';
 import { applySecretsToConfig } from '../../config/secrets';
 import type { RenovateConfig } from '../../config/types';
+import {
+  REPOSITORY_DISABLED_BY_CONFIG,
+  REPOSITORY_FORKED,
+  REPOSITORY_NO_CONFIG,
+} from '../../constants/error-messages';
 import { pkg } from '../../expose.cjs';
 import { instrument } from '../../instrumentation';
 import { logger, setMeta } from '../../logger';
@@ -18,6 +23,7 @@ import { setBranchCache } from './cache';
 import { ensureDependencyDashboard } from './dependency-dashboard';
 import handleError from './error';
 import { finaliseRepo } from './finalise';
+import { pruneStaleBranches } from './finalise/prune';
 import { initRepo } from './init';
 import { OnboardingState } from './onboarding/common';
 import { ensureOnboardingPr } from './onboarding/pr';
@@ -92,6 +98,14 @@ export async function renovateRepository(
   } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
     setMeta({ repository: config.repository });
     const errorRes = await handleError(config, err);
+    const pruneWhenErrors = [
+      REPOSITORY_DISABLED_BY_CONFIG,
+      REPOSITORY_FORKED,
+      REPOSITORY_NO_CONFIG,
+    ];
+    if (pruneWhenErrors.includes(errorRes)) {
+      await pruneStaleBranches(config, []);
+    }
     repoResult = processResult(config, errorRes);
   }
   if (localDir && !repoConfig.persistRepoData) {