diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 492245b..9783d48 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ The simplest way to hit the ground running if you want to contribute with code i
 
 Launch a python container
 ```shell
-localhost$ docker run --rm -it  -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd) python:3.7-stretch bash
+localhost$ docker run --rm -it  -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd)  python:3.11-slim-bullseye bash
 ```
 
 Install the project and test dependencies in developer mode
diff --git a/gordian/repo.py b/gordian/repo.py
index 0c53a0b..bd6e5f1 100644
--- a/gordian/repo.py
+++ b/gordian/repo.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ def _set_target_branch(self, target_branch, source_branch=None):
             self.branch_name = f"refs/heads/{datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S.%f')}"
             self.source_branch = self.target_ref
 
-    @retry(GithubException, tries=3, delay=1, backoff=2)
+    @retry((GithubException, TimeoutError), tries=3, delay=1, backoff=2)
     def _get_repo_contents(self, path):
         try:
             logger.debug(f'Fetching repo contents {path}...')
@@ -135,6 +135,9 @@ def _get_repo_contents(self, path):
             if e.status == 404:
                 raise e
             logger.info(f'Error fetching repo contents: {e}')
+        except TimeoutError as e:
+            logger.info(f'Error fetching repo contents: {e}')
+            raise e
 
     @retry(GithubException, tries=3, delay=1, backoff=2)
     def _make_branch(self):
@@ -248,6 +251,6 @@ def _get_new_version(self):
         elif self.semver_label == 'patch':
             patch = str(int(patch) + 1)
         self.new_version = '.'.join([major, minor, patch])
-    
+
     def get_github_client(self):
         return self._github
diff --git a/tests/test_repo.py b/tests/test_repo.py
index a341ea1..33b7183 100644
--- a/tests/test_repo.py
+++ b/tests/test_repo.py
@@ -206,3 +206,23 @@ def test__get_github_client(self):
 
         self.assertIsNotNone(repo.get_github_client())
         self.assertEqual(repo.get_github_client(), self.mock_git)
+    
+    def test_get_repo_contents_timeout_error(self):
+        self.repo._set_target_branch('target')
+        self.repo.files = []
+        self.repo._source_repo = MagicMock()
+        self.repo._source_repo.get_contents.side_effect = TimeoutError('Read Timeout')
+        with pytest.raises(Exception) as context:
+            self.repo._get_repo_contents(path='test/afile.txt')
+        assert "Read Timeout" in str(context.value)
+        self.repo._source_repo.get_contents.assert_has_calls([call('test/afile.txt', 'target'), call('test/afile.txt', 'target'), call('test/afile.txt', 'target')])
+
+    
+    def test_get_repo_contents(self):
+        self.repo._set_target_branch('target')
+        self.repo.files = []
+        self.repo._source_repo = MagicMock()
+        repository_file = MagicMock(path='test/afile.txt', type='not_dir')
+        self.repo._source_repo.get_contents.side_effect = [repository_file]
+        self.repo._get_repo_contents(path='test/afile.txt')
+        self.repo._source_repo.get_contents.assert_has_calls([call('test/afile.txt', 'target')])