diff --git a/telegram-notify.py b/telegram-notify.py
index 89200e1..862d669 100644
--- a/telegram-notify.py
+++ b/telegram-notify.py
@@ -162,7 +162,13 @@ configParser = ConfigParser.RawConfigParser()
 configParser.read('telegram-notify.conf')
 
 spool_dir = configParser.get('general', 'spool_dir')
-# TODO: check if spool_dir exists and is a dir
+if not os.path.isdir(spool_dir):
+    print "spool directory (%s) doesn't exists or is not a directory!" % spool_dir
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+if not os.access(spool_dir, os.W_OK):
+    print "spool directory (%s) is not writable!" % spool_dir
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 chat_ids=[]
 print "Allowed users: "