diff --git a/gateway/status.py b/gateway/status.py
index 8d2640af0f8..a49999e712f 100644
--- a/gateway/status.py
+++ b/gateway/status.py
@@ -643,6 +643,21 @@ def acquire_scoped_lock(scope: str, identity: str, metadata: Optional[dict[str,
                     live_cmdline = _read_process_cmdline(existing_pid)
                     if live_cmdline is not None or not _record_looks_like_gateway(existing):
                         stale = True
+                # Secondary defence against boot-time PID+start_time collisions:
+                # systemd spawns core services deterministically, so an unrelated
+                # process (e.g. cron) can land on the exact same PID and jiffy
+                # count as a previous gateway. If both start_times are known and
+                # match but the live process is not a gateway, and we can confirm
+                # that by reading its cmdline, the lock is stale.
+                if (
+                    not stale
+                    and existing.get("start_time") is not None
+                    and current_start is not None
+                    and not _looks_like_gateway_process(existing_pid)
+                ):
+                    live_cmdline = _read_process_cmdline(existing_pid)
+                    if live_cmdline is not None:
+                        stale = True
                 # Check if process is stopped (Ctrl+Z / SIGTSTP) — stopped
                 # processes still appear alive to _pid_exists but are not
                 # actually running. Treat them as stale so --replace works.
diff --git a/tests/gateway/test_status.py b/tests/gateway/test_status.py
index bbf9d95709e..e8d2f57485c 100644
--- a/tests/gateway/test_status.py
+++ b/tests/gateway/test_status.py
@@ -636,6 +636,36 @@ class TestScopedLocks:
         assert removed == 0
         assert reused_pid_lock.exists()
 
+    def test_acquire_scoped_lock_replaces_reused_pid_even_with_matching_start_time(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        """Regression: boot-time PID+start_time collision must not block gateway startup.
+
+        On Linux, systemd assigns PIDs and jiffy start_times deterministically
+        across reboots. A core service (e.g. cron) can land on the exact same
+        PID and start_time as a previous gateway. The start_time check passes,
+        but the live process is not a gateway — the lock must be evicted.
+        """
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_GATEWAY_LOCK_DIR", str(tmp_path / "locks"))
+        lock_path = tmp_path / "locks" / "telegram-bot-token-2bb80d537b1da3e3.lock"
+        lock_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        lock_path.write_text(json.dumps({
+            "pid": 840,
+            "start_time": 123,
+            "kind": "hermes-gateway",
+            "argv": ["/usr/bin/python", "-m", "hermes_cli.main", "gateway", "run"],
+        }))
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(status, "_pid_exists", lambda pid: True)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(status, "_get_process_start_time", lambda pid: 123)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(status, "_looks_like_gateway_process", lambda pid: False)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(status, "_read_process_cmdline", lambda pid: "/usr/sbin/nginx")
+
+        acquired, existing = status.acquire_scoped_lock("telegram-bot-token", "secret", metadata={"platform": "telegram"})
+
+        assert acquired is True
+        payload = json.loads(lock_path.read_text())
+        assert payload["pid"] == os.getpid()
+        assert payload["metadata"]["platform"] == "telegram"
+
 
 class TestTakeoverMarker:
     """Tests for the --replace takeover marker.