diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 2.1.1.3
+
+Parse UTCTime in 8601 format [#339](https://github.com/yesodweb/persistent/issues/339)
+
 ## 2.1.1.1
 
 Support for monad-control 1.0
diff --git a/Database/Persist/Class/PersistField.hs b/Database/Persist/Class/PersistField.hs
--- a/Database/Persist/Class/PersistField.hs
+++ b/Database/Persist/Class/PersistField.hs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     ) where
 
 import Database.Persist.Types.Base
-import Data.Time (Day(..), TimeOfDay, UTCTime)
+import Data.Time (Day(..), TimeOfDay, UTCTime, parseTime)
 #ifdef HIGH_PRECISION_DATE
 import Data.Time.Clock.POSIX (posixSecondsToUTCTime)
 #endif
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@
 import qualified Data.Text.Encoding as TE
 import qualified Data.Vector as V
 
+#if MIN_VERSION_time(1,5,0)
+import Data.Time (defaultTimeLocale)
+#else
+import System.Locale (defaultTimeLocale)
+#endif
+
 -- | A value which can be marshalled to and from a 'PersistValue'.
 class PersistField a where
     toPersistValue :: a -> PersistValue
@@ -221,7 +227,12 @@
     fromPersistValue x@(PersistText t)  =
         case reads $ T.unpack t of
             (d, _):_ -> Right d
-            _ -> Left $ T.pack $ "Expected UTCTime, received " ++ show x
+            _ ->
+                case parse8601 $ T.unpack t of
+                    Nothing -> Left $ T.pack $ "Expected UTCTime, received " ++ show x
+                    Just x -> Right x
+      where
+        parse8601 = parseTime defaultTimeLocale "%FT%T%Q"
     fromPersistValue x@(PersistByteString s) =
         case reads $ unpack s of
             (d, _):_ -> Right d
diff --git a/persistent.cabal b/persistent.cabal
--- a/persistent.cabal
+++ b/persistent.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            persistent
-version:         2.1.1.2
+version:         2.1.1.3
 license:         MIT
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
                    , bytestring               >= 0.9
                    , transformers             >= 0.2.1
                    , time                     >= 1.1.4
+                   , old-locale
                    , text                     >= 0.8
                    , containers               >= 0.2
                    , conduit                  >= 1.0
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@
                    , text
                    , unordered-containers
                    , time
+                   , old-locale
                    , bytestring
                    , vector
                    , base64-bytestring