diff --git a/federationapi/routing/send.go b/federationapi/routing/send.go
index dced1fb92..84b7d486c 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/send.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/send.go
@@ -248,9 +248,6 @@ func isProcessingErrorFatal(err error) bool {
 type roomNotFoundError struct {
 	roomID string
 }
-type unmarshalError struct {
-	err error
-}
 type verifySigError struct {
 	eventID string
 	err     error
@@ -261,7 +258,6 @@ type missingPrevEventsError struct {
 }
 
 func (e roomNotFoundError) Error() string { return fmt.Sprintf("room %q not found", e.roomID) }
-func (e unmarshalError) Error() string    { return fmt.Sprintf("unable to parse event: %s", e.err) }
 func (e verifySigError) Error() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("unable to verify signature of event %q: %s", e.eventID, e.err)
 }
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/send_test.go b/federationapi/routing/send_test.go
index d7e422479..0a462433c 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/send_test.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/send_test.go
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ func TestTransactionFailAuthChecks(t *testing.T) {
 		queryMissingAuthPrevEvents: func(req *api.QueryMissingAuthPrevEventsRequest) api.QueryMissingAuthPrevEventsResponse {
 			return api.QueryMissingAuthPrevEventsResponse{
 				RoomExists:          true,
-				MissingAuthEventIDs: []string{"create_event"},
+				MissingAuthEventIDs: []string{},
 				MissingPrevEventIDs: []string{},
 			}
 		},