diff --git a/roles/common/tasks/main.yml b/roles/common/tasks/main.yml
index 5dbe502f0..5af15e88f 100644
--- a/roles/common/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/common/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 # In ansible 2.7 should be enough to add the option public: true to the calling include_role
-# for this role. THis is the best workaround
+# for this role. This is the best workaround
 - name: Include the vars to be available for the playbook
   include_vars:
     dir: vars
+
+# Workaround for https://launchpad.net/bugs/1807703 safe to remove only once
+# fetch-zuul-cloner is no longer part of zuul base job.
+- name: apply o-w workaround on src to avoid failure to load ansible.cfg
+  file:
+    path: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/src"
+    state: directory
+    recurse: yes
+    mode: o-w
+  become: yes