diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f73de5fb..7ed85769 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ proxy-image:
 # as the script runs them: a bus per test, of the release the mesh runs, makes the suite the same in any
 # order, and the timeout bounds a hang to a failure with a stack, never a stalled gate.
 check: postgres
-	@sh merge-check.sh ; status=$$? ; $(MAKE) postgres-stop ; exit $$status
+	@sh merge-check.sh ; status=$$? ; docker rm -f $(PG_CONTAINER) >/dev/null 2>&1 || true ; exit $$status
 
 # Without a database the store's tests skip rather than fail, so this is the honest subset and not
 # the gate.