diff --git a/backend/local/local.go b/backend/local/local.go
index a17a0cf53..039d5d86e 100644
--- a/backend/local/local.go
+++ b/backend/local/local.go
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ type Object struct {
 
 // ------------------------------------------------------------
 
+var errLinksAndCopyLinks = errors.New("can't use -l/--links with -L/--copy-links")
+
 // NewFs constructs an Fs from the path
 func NewFs(name, root string, m configmap.Mapper) (fs.Fs, error) {
 	// Parse config into Options struct
@@ -150,6 +152,9 @@ func NewFs(name, root string, m configmap.Mapper) (fs.Fs, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	if opt.TranslateSymlinks && opt.FollowSymlinks {
+		return nil, errLinksAndCopyLinks
+	}
 
 	if opt.NoUTFNorm {
 		fs.Errorf(nil, "The --local-no-unicode-normalization flag is deprecated and will be removed")
diff --git a/backend/local/local_internal_test.go b/backend/local/local_internal_test.go
index 54d9dc1fe..46493f1ee 100644
--- a/backend/local/local_internal_test.go
+++ b/backend/local/local_internal_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/ncw/rclone/fs"
+	"github.com/ncw/rclone/fs/config/configmap"
 	"github.com/ncw/rclone/fs/hash"
 	"github.com/ncw/rclone/fstest"
 	"github.com/ncw/rclone/lib/file"
@@ -164,3 +165,12 @@ func TestSymlink(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, "file.txt"[2:5+1], string(contents))
 	require.NoError(t, in.Close())
 }
+
+func TestSymlinkError(t *testing.T) {
+	m := configmap.Simple{
+		"links":      "true",
+		"copy_links": "true",
+	}
+	_, err := NewFs("local", "/", m)
+	assert.Equal(t, errLinksAndCopyLinks, err)
+}
diff --git a/docs/content/local.md b/docs/content/local.md
index 03987d138..be5e26e20 100644
--- a/docs/content/local.md
+++ b/docs/content/local.md
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@ Normally rclone will ignore symlinks or junction points (which behave
 like symlinks under Windows).
 
 If you supply `--copy-links` or `-L` then rclone will follow the
-symlink and copy the pointed to file or directory.
+symlink and copy the pointed to file or directory.  Note that this
+flag is incompatible with `-links` / `-l`.
 
 This flag applies to all commands.
 
@@ -121,10 +122,10 @@ $ rclone -L ls /tmp/a
 Normally rclone will ignore symlinks or junction points (which behave
 like symlinks under Windows).
 
-If you supply this flag then rclone will copy symblic links from the local storage,
+If you supply this flag then rclone will copy symbolic links from the local storage,
 and store them as text files, with a '.rclonelink' suffix in the remote storage.
 
-The text file will contain the target of the symblic link (see example).
+The text file will contain the target of the symbolic link (see example).
 
 This flag applies to all commands.
 
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ $ rclone ls remote:/tmp/a
       14 file2.rclonelink
 ```
 
-The remote files will contain the target of the symblic links
+The remote files will contain the target of the symbolic links
 
 ```
 $ rclone cat remote:/tmp/a/file1.rclonelink
@@ -183,7 +184,10 @@ $ tree /tmp/b
 └── file2.rclonelink
 ````
 
+Note that this flag is incompatible with `-copy-links` / `-L`.
+
 ### Restricting filesystems with --one-file-system
+
 Normally rclone will recurse through filesystems as mounted.
 
 However if you set `--one-file-system` or `-x` this tells rclone to