diff --git a/britney2/policies/policy.py b/britney2/policies/policy.py
index bd4b14d..98258c5 100644
--- a/britney2/policies/policy.py
+++ b/britney2/policies/policy.py
@@ -182,7 +182,12 @@ class AgePolicy(BasePolicy):
         self._min_days_default = None  # initialised later
         # britney's "day" begins at 7pm (we want aging to occur in the 22:00Z run and we run Britney 2-4 times a day)
         # NB: _date_now is used in tests
-        self._date_now = int(((time.time() / (60*60)) - 19) / 24)
+        time_now = time.time()
+        if hasattr(self.options, 'fake_runtime'):
+            time_now = int(self.options.fake_runtime)
+            self.logger.info("overriding runtime with fake_runtime %d"%time_now)
+
+        self._date_now = int(((time_now / (60*60)) - 19) / 24)
         self._dates = {}
         self._urgencies = {}
         self._default_urgency = self.options.default_urgency