diff --git a/app/services/ci/create_pipeline_service.rb b/app/services/ci/create_pipeline_service.rb
index a51c52b3f91a47aaa6b9a433b1c49c9a3b069cf0..b3dbb5484543f5f59de298b74472231f2a5d1fd0 100644
--- a/app/services/ci/create_pipeline_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/ci/create_pipeline_service.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ module Ci
         return error('Insufficient permissions to create a new pipeline')
       end
 
-      unless trigger_request && trigger_request.trigger.owner
+      if trigger_request && !trigger_request.trigger.owner
         return error('Legacy trigger without a owner is not allowed')
       end
 
diff --git a/app/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service.rb b/app/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service.rb
index beb27a5a5974a7b3e52be46d6f9d0dfba10cf886..e4f55c27f617824ec984c83856e98fcd0a684d8d 100644
--- a/app/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ module Ci
       pipeline = Ci::CreatePipelineService.new(project, trigger.owner, ref: ref).
         execute(:trigger, ignore_skip_ci: true, trigger_request: trigger_request)
 
-      trigger_request if pipeline.persisted?
+      trigger_request.pipeline = pipeline
+      trigger_request
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/api/triggers.rb b/lib/api/triggers.rb
index a9f2ca2608ea526c3b395fa96daaaee5b9e53c01..9e444563fdf13d5a8aa616cfc6db6c50a868a854 100644
--- a/lib/api/triggers.rb
+++ b/lib/api/triggers.rb
@@ -28,11 +28,12 @@ module API
 
         # create request and trigger builds
         trigger_request = Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService.new.execute(project, trigger, params[:ref].to_s, variables)
-        if trigger_request
-          present trigger_request.pipeline, with: Entities::Pipeline
+        pipeline = trigger_request.pipeline
+
+        if pipeline.persisted?
+          present pipeline, with: Entities::Pipeline
         else
-          errors = 'No pipeline created'
-          render_api_error!(errors, 400)
+          render_validation_error!(pipeline)
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/api/v3/triggers.rb b/lib/api/v3/triggers.rb
index a23d6b6b48cb1546c7a6dd696c7cc53a00a03e46..7e75c579528fa073e1a93ee5b2fc771a1eebad0d 100644
--- a/lib/api/v3/triggers.rb
+++ b/lib/api/v3/triggers.rb
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@ module API
 
           # create request and trigger builds
           trigger_request = Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService.new.execute(project, trigger, params[:ref].to_s, variables)
-          if trigger_request
+          pipeline = trigger_request.pipeline
+
+          if pipeline.persisted?
             present trigger_request, with: ::API::V3::Entities::TriggerRequest
           else
-            errors = 'No builds created'
-            render_api_error!(errors, 400)
+            render_validation_error!(pipeline)
           end
         end
 
diff --git a/lib/ci/api/triggers.rb b/lib/ci/api/triggers.rb
index 6e622601680ff02f772d9e36c454e012d8783560..0e5174e13ab486231429da8765f4b63528a78755 100644
--- a/lib/ci/api/triggers.rb
+++ b/lib/ci/api/triggers.rb
@@ -25,11 +25,12 @@ module Ci
 
           # create request and trigger builds
           trigger_request = Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService.new.execute(project, trigger, params[:ref], variables)
-          if trigger_request
+          pipeline = trigger_request.pipeline
+
+          if pipeline.persisted?
             present trigger_request, with: Entities::TriggerRequest
           else
-            errors = 'No builds created'
-            render_api_error!(errors, 400)
+            render_validation_error!(pipeline)
           end
         end
       end
diff --git a/spec/requests/ci/api/triggers_spec.rb b/spec/requests/ci/api/triggers_spec.rb
index 26b03c0f14820ed5cff4cd5697f1cd625edbe629..e481ca916aba87b076aa916150a1286c279579ef 100644
--- a/spec/requests/ci/api/triggers_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/ci/api/triggers_spec.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,14 @@ describe Ci::API::Triggers do
     let!(:trigger_token) { 'secure token' }
     let!(:project) { create(:project, :repository, ci_id: 10) }
     let!(:project2) { create(:empty_project, ci_id: 11) }
-    let!(:trigger) { create(:ci_trigger, project: project, token: trigger_token) }
+
+    let!(:trigger) do
+      create(:ci_trigger,
+             project: project,
+             token: trigger_token,
+             owner: create(:user))
+    end
+
     let(:options) do
       {
         token: trigger_token
@@ -14,6 +21,8 @@ describe Ci::API::Triggers do
 
     before do
       stub_ci_pipeline_to_return_yaml_file
+
+      project.add_developer(trigger.owner)
     end
 
     context 'Handles errors' do
@@ -47,7 +56,8 @@ describe Ci::API::Triggers do
       it 'returns bad request with no builds created if there\'s no commit for that ref' do
         post ci_api("/projects/#{project.ci_id}/refs/other-branch/trigger"), options
         expect(response).to have_http_status(400)
-        expect(json_response['message']).to eq('No builds created')
+        expect(json_response['message']['base'])
+          .to contain_exactly('Reference not found')
       end
 
       context 'Validates variables' do
diff --git a/spec/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service_spec.rb
index f2956262f4b0d3fc8ceef2b99ecef1eb37340d59..8582c74e734c1711ba343aa35cf7970d0fab4ada 100644
--- a/spec/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/ci/create_trigger_request_service_spec.rb
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 describe Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService, services: true do
   let(:service) { described_class.new }
   let(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
-  let(:trigger) { create(:ci_trigger, project: project) }
+  let(:trigger) { create(:ci_trigger, project: project, owner: owner) }
+  let(:owner) { create(:user) }
 
   before do
     stub_ci_pipeline_to_return_yaml_file
+
+    project.add_developer(owner)
   end
 
   describe '#execute' do
@@ -21,9 +24,6 @@ describe Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService, services: true do
       end
 
       context 'with owner' do
-        let(:owner) { create(:user) }
-        let(:trigger) { create(:ci_trigger, project: project, owner: owner) }
-
         it { expect(subject).to be_kind_of(Ci::TriggerRequest) }
         it { expect(subject.pipeline).to be_kind_of(Ci::Pipeline) }
         it { expect(subject.pipeline).to be_trigger }
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ describe Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService, services: true do
     context 'no commit for ref' do
       subject { service.execute(project, trigger, 'other-branch') }
 
-      it { expect(subject).to be_nil }
+      it { expect(subject.pipeline).not_to be_persisted }
     end
 
     context 'no builds created' do
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ describe Ci::CreateTriggerRequestService, services: true do
         stub_ci_pipeline_yaml_file('script: { only: [develop], script: hello World }')
       end
 
-      it { expect(subject).to be_nil }
+      it { expect(subject.pipeline).not_to be_persisted }
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/workers/post_receive_spec.rb b/spec/workers/post_receive_spec.rb
index f4bc63bcc6a1c92dd22e2198ffa73acd7407408c..7da48647bb55fe0d1a7318c1b59ce00b77f6f0a2 100644
--- a/spec/workers/post_receive_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/workers/post_receive_spec.rb
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ describe PostReceive do
             OpenStruct.new(id: '123456')
           end
           allow_any_instance_of(Ci::CreatePipelineService).to receive(:branch?).and_return(true)
+          allow_any_instance_of(Repository).to receive(:ref_exists?).and_return(true)
           stub_ci_pipeline_to_return_yaml_file
         end