diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/UTFGrid.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/UTFGrid.js
index ab057e276f..1dc66454d0 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/UTFGrid.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/UTFGrid.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 /**
  * @requires OpenLayers/Tile.js
+ * @requires OpenLayers/Format/JSON.js
  */
 
 /**
@@ -37,6 +38,14 @@ OpenLayers.Tile.UTFGrid = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Tile, {
      * Stores the parsed JSON tile data structure. 
      */
     json: null,
+    
+    /** 
+     * Property: format
+     * {OpenLayers.Format.JSON}
+     * Parser instance used to parse JSON for cross browser support.  The native
+     *     JSON.parse method will be used where available (all except IE<8).
+     */
+    format: null,
 
     /** 
      * Constructor: OpenLayers.Tile.UTFGrid
@@ -114,8 +123,10 @@ OpenLayers.Tile.UTFGrid = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Tile, {
      */
     parseData: function(req) {
         if (req.status == 200) {
-            var text = req.responseText;
-            this.json = JSON.parse(text);
+            if (!this.format) {
+                this.format = new OpenLayers.Format.JSON();
+            }
+            this.json = this.format.read(req.responseText);
         } 
     },