diff --git a/collects/redex/private/loc-wrapper-rt.rkt b/collects/redex/private/loc-wrapper-rt.rkt
index b69474d6ab..f71b702764 100644
--- a/collects/redex/private/loc-wrapper-rt.rkt
+++ b/collects/redex/private/loc-wrapper-rt.rkt
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
       [(string? e) 
        (values line col (+ col (string-length e)))]
       [(symbol? e)
-       (values line col (+ col (string-length (symbol->string e))))]
+       (values line col (+ col (string-length (format "~s" e))))]
       [(not e) (values line col col)]
       [else 
        (let loop ([lws e]
diff --git a/collects/redex/tests/lw-test.rkt b/collects/redex/tests/lw-test.rkt
index 89dd8babc2..869d72cfd0 100644
--- a/collects/redex/tests/lw-test.rkt
+++ b/collects/redex/tests/lw-test.rkt
@@ -262,6 +262,14 @@
            2))
          0 0 0 3))
   
+  (test (normalize-lw (to-lw (|+1| x)))
+        (build-lw
+         (list (build-lw "(" 0 0 0 1)
+               (build-lw '|+1| 0 0 1 4)
+               (build-lw 'x 0 0 6 1)
+               (build-lw ")" 0 0 7 1))
+         0 0 0 8))
+  
   ;; this one seems suspicious: why does the second comma start at 1 instead of 0?
   ;; rendering seems to work, however, so we'll go with it ..
   (test (normalize-lw (to-lw ,,x))