diff --git a/runtests.py b/runtests.py
index 0c85d3154b..85fb762b54 100755
--- a/runtests.py
+++ b/runtests.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ def make_parser():
     parser.add_argument('--elasticsearch6', action='store_true')
     parser.add_argument('--elasticsearch7', action='store_true')
     parser.add_argument('--emailuser', action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('--disabletimezone', action='store_true')
     parser.add_argument('--bench', action='store_true')
     return parser
 
@@ -70,6 +71,9 @@ def runtests():
     if args.emailuser:
         os.environ['USE_EMAIL_USER_MODEL'] = '1'
 
+    if args.disabletimezone:
+        os.environ['DISABLE_TIMEZONE'] = '1'
+
     if args.bench:
         benchmarks = [
             'wagtail.admin.tests.benches',
diff --git a/wagtail/tests/settings.py b/wagtail/tests/settings.py
index 6809392e62..cca3709ab3 100644
--- a/wagtail/tests/settings.py
+++ b/wagtail/tests/settings.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
     'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
 )
 
-USE_TZ = True
+USE_TZ = not os.environ.get('DISABLE_TIMEZONE')
 
 LANGUAGE_CODE = "en"