diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Utils.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Utils.java
index c6c6851d73..d5a123ec62 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Utils.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/Utils.java
@@ -2414,7 +2414,7 @@ final class Utils {
                 return blob.getBytes(1, (int) blob.length());
             }
             finally {
-                blob.free();
+                JDBCUtils.safeFree(blob);
             }
         }
         else if (object instanceof Clob) {
@@ -2424,7 +2424,7 @@ final class Utils {
                 return clob.getSubString(1, (int) clob.length());
             }
             finally {
-                clob.free();
+                JDBCUtils.safeFree(clob);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/jdbc/JDBCUtils.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/jdbc/JDBCUtils.java
index 2882464fe4..49ad8d03c5 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/jdbc/JDBCUtils.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/tools/jdbc/JDBCUtils.java
@@ -249,6 +249,9 @@ public class JDBCUtils {
                 blob.free();
             }
             catch (Exception ignore) {}
+
+            // [#3069] The free() method was added only in JDBC 4.0 / Java 1.6
+            catch (AbstractMethodError ignore) {}
         }
     }
 
@@ -264,6 +267,9 @@ public class JDBCUtils {
                 clob.free();
             }
             catch (Exception ignore) {}
+
+            // [#3069] The free() method was added only in JDBC 4.0 / Java 1.6
+            catch (AbstractMethodError ignore) {}
         }
     }