diff --git a/tests/test_auth.py b/tests/test_auth.py
index 12f54b2..edefe07 100644
--- a/tests/test_auth.py
+++ b/tests/test_auth.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ class TwythonAuthTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.api = Twython(app_key, app_secret)
         self.bad_api = Twython('BAD_APP_KEY', 'BAD_APP_SECRET')
+        self.bad_api_invalid_tokens = Twython('BAD_APP_KEY', 'BAD_APP_SECRET',
+                                              'BAD_OT', 'BAD_OTS')
 
         self.oauth2_api = Twython(app_key, app_secret, oauth_version=2)
         self.oauth2_bad_api = Twython('BAD_APP_KEY', 'BAD_APP_SECRET',
@@ -31,6 +33,11 @@ class TwythonAuthTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertRaises(TwythonError, self.bad_api.get_authorized_tokens,
                           'BAD_OAUTH_VERIFIER')
 
+    def test_get_authorized_tokens_invalid_or_expired_tokens(self):
+        """Test getting final token fails when invalid or expired tokens have been passed"""
+        self.assertRaises(TwythonError, self.bad_api_invalid_tokens.get_authorized_tokens,
+                         'BAD_OAUTH_VERIFIER')
+
     def test_get_authentication_tokens_raises_error_when_oauth2(self):
         """Test when API is set for OAuth 2, get_authentication_tokens raises
         a TwythonError"""
diff --git a/twython/api.py b/twython/api.py
index 19efb96..39b8f28 100644
--- a/twython/api.py
+++ b/twython/api.py
@@ -307,7 +307,21 @@ class Twython(EndpointsMixin, object):
         if self.oauth_version != 1:
             raise TwythonError('This method can only be called when your OAuth version is 1.0.')
 
-        response = self.client.get(self.access_token_url, params={'oauth_verifier': oauth_verifier})
+        response = self.client.get(self.access_token_url, params={'oauth_verifier': oauth_verifier}, headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
+
+        if response.status_code == 401:
+            try:
+                try:
+                    # try to get json
+                    content = response.json()
+                except AttributeError:  # pragma: no cover
+                    # if unicode detected
+                    content = json.loads(response.content)
+            except ValueError:
+                content = {}
+
+            raise TwythonError(content.get('error', 'Invalid / expired Token'), error_code=response.status_code)
+
         authorized_tokens = dict(parse_qsl(response.content.decode('utf-8')))
         if not authorized_tokens:
             raise TwythonError('Unable to decode authorized tokens.')