diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b85230e..3d21dff 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,8 @@
 language: php
 
 php:
-  - 5.5
-  - 5.6
-  - 7.0
-  - 7.1
-  - 7.2
   - 7.3
+  - 7.4
 
 services:
   - postgresql
@@ -16,7 +12,7 @@ addons:
   postgresql: "9.5"
 
 sudo: required
-dist: precise
+dist: bionic
 
 before_script:
   - 'composer install --dev --prefer-source'
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9eea88b..a5ce274 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ the internal `protected` portion of the API; typically, a major `0.x+1` release
 
 ### Contributions
 
-Current target is php 5.5 and later, see `.travis.yml`.
+Current target is php 7.0 and later, see `.travis.yml`.
 
 Code adheres to [PSR-2](http://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-2/) and [PSR-4](http://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-4/).
 
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 14a637b..2b054cf 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
         }
     },
     "require": {
-        "php": ">=5.5",
+        "php": ">=7.0",
         "ext-pdo": "*",
         "mindplay/unbox": "^2",
         "psr/log": "^1"
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
     "require-dev": {
         "mindplay/testies": "^0.3.2",
         "mindplay/benchpress": "^0.1",
-        "mockery/mockery": "^0.9",
+        "mockery/mockery": "^1.5.0",
         "phpunit/php-code-coverage": ">=2, <4"
     },
     "suggest": {
diff --git a/src/framework/Result.php b/src/framework/Result.php
index e5ce894..173c1f7 100644
--- a/src/framework/Result.php
+++ b/src/framework/Result.php
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ public function all()
      *
      * @return Iterator
      */
-    public function getIterator()
+    public function getIterator(): Iterator
     {
         return $this->createIterator($this->batch_size);
     }
diff --git a/src/framework/pdo/PreparedPDOStatement.php b/src/framework/pdo/PreparedPDOStatement.php
index ce3f0ad..df306c7 100644
--- a/src/framework/pdo/PreparedPDOStatement.php
+++ b/src/framework/pdo/PreparedPDOStatement.php
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 use mindplay\sql\model\Driver;
 use mindplay\sql\model\TypeProvider;
 use PDO;
+use PDOException;
 use PDOStatement;
 
 /**
@@ -104,7 +105,13 @@ public function execute()
     {
         $microtime_begin = microtime(true);
 
-        if (@$this->handle->execute()) {
+        try {
+            $execution_successful = @$this->handle->execute();
+        } catch (PDOException $e) {
+            $execution_successful = false;
+        }
+
+        if ($execution_successful) {
             $this->executed = true;
             $microtime_end = microtime(true);
             $time_msec = ($microtime_end - $microtime_begin) * 1000;
diff --git a/test/test-integration.php b/test/test-integration.php
index 14c9d38..30041ea 100644
--- a/test/test-integration.php
+++ b/test/test-integration.php
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <?php
 
+use mindplay\sql\exceptions\SQLException;
 use mindplay\sql\framework\pdo\PDOProvider;
 use mindplay\sql\mysql\MySQLDatabase;
 use mindplay\sql\postgres\PostgresDatabase;
@@ -22,6 +23,27 @@ function () use ($config) {
     }
 );
 
+test(
+    'can handle PDO exception error mode',
+    function () use ($config) {
+        $provider = new PDOProvider(
+            PDOProvider::PROTOCOL_POSTGRES,
+            $config["postgres"]["database"],
+            $config["postgres"]["user"],
+            $config["postgres"]["password"]
+        );
+
+        $db = new PostgresDatabase();
+        $pdo = $provider->getPDO();
+        $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); // Default from PHP 8
+        $connection = $db->createConnection($pdo);
+
+        expect(SQLException::class, 'pdo exception mode is handled', function () use ($connection, $db) {
+            $connection->fetch($db->sql('invalid syntax'))->firstCol();
+        },['/42601: ERROR:  syntax error/']);
+    }
+);
+
 test(
     'can connect to MySQL',
     function () use ($config) {