diff --git a/tests/test_1_flattener.py b/tests/test_1_flattener.py
index 02a191a51..6bed1ffb8 100644
--- a/tests/test_1_flattener.py
+++ b/tests/test_1_flattener.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from pytest import fixture, raises
 from os import listdir, environ, makedirs
 from json import load, dumps, loads
 from yaml import dump as ydump
+from shutil import rmtree
 
 environ['TIRAMISU_LOCALE'] = 'en'
 
@@ -14,6 +15,11 @@ from rougail.error import DictConsistencyError
 
 dico_dirs = 'tests/dictionaries'
 
+# if test_3_template.py failed, this temporary directory must be removed
+tmp_dir = join(dico_dirs, 'tmp')
+if isdir(tmp_dir):
+    rmtree(tmp_dir)
+
 
 test_ok = set()
 test_raise = set()