diff --git a/system/core/URI.php b/system/core/URI.php
index 07add5a4da3..900472b61e1 100644
--- a/system/core/URI.php
+++ b/system/core/URI.php
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ protected function _parse_query_string()
 
 		parse_str($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'], $_GET);
 
-		return str_replace(array('//', '../'), '/', trim($uri, '/'));
+		return $this->_remove_relative_directory($uri);
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------