diff --git a/pydal/helpers/classes.py b/pydal/helpers/classes.py
index e7892cedf..58425e0a7 100644
--- a/pydal/helpers/classes.py
+++ b/pydal/helpers/classes.py
@@ -217,6 +217,47 @@ def __setitem__(self, key, value):
         self.__allocate()
         self._record[key] = value
 
+class ReferenceUUID(str):
+    def __allocate(self):
+        if not self._record:
+            self._record = self._table[str(self)]
+        if not self._record:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "Using a recursive select but encountered a broken " +
+                "reference: %s %d" % (self._table, str(self))
+            )
+
+    def __getattr__(self, key):
+        if key == 'id':
+            return str(self)
+        if key in self._table:
+            self.__allocate()
+        if self._record:
+            # to deal with case self.update_record()
+            return self._record.get(key, None)
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    def get(self, key, default=None):
+        return self.__getattr__(key, default)
+
+    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
+        if key.startswith('_'):
+            str.__setattr__(self, key, value)
+            return
+        self.__allocate()
+        self._record[key] = value
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        if key == 'id':
+            return str(self)
+        self.__allocate()
+        return self._record.get(key, None)
+
+    def __setitem__(self, key, value):
+        self.__allocate()
+        self._record[key] = value
+
 
 def Reference_unpickler(data):
     return marshal.loads(data)
diff --git a/pydal/parsers/base.py b/pydal/parsers/base.py
index 2783fda50..87d979045 100644
--- a/pydal/parsers/base.py
+++ b/pydal/parsers/base.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from decimal import Decimal
 from .._compat import PY2, integer_types, basestring, to_bytes, to_native
 from ..adapters.base import SQLAdapter
-from ..helpers.classes import Reference
+from ..helpers.classes import Reference, ReferenceUUID
 from ..helpers.methods import bar_decode_string, bar_decode_integer
 from . import Parser, parsers, for_type, before_parse
 
@@ -43,7 +43,10 @@ def reference_extras(self, field_type):
     @for_type('reference')
     def _reference(self, value, referee):
         if '.' not in referee:
-            value = Reference(value)
+            try:
+                value = Reference(value)
+            except ValueError:
+                value = ReferenceUUID(value)
             value._table, value._record = self.adapter.db[referee], None
         return value