diff --git a/handlers/dup.in b/handlers/dup.in
index d7ad27b7043df5d34eefe0dbe1455da8f219388e..d304ed16580c52a4df6cd0700280cb1507b6f245 100644
--- a/handlers/dup.in
+++ b/handlers/dup.in
@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ fi
 # duplicity now enables the archive_dir by default, let's put it into /var/cache/backupninja/duplicity
 # unless the user has specified it.
 if echo "${options}" | grep -qv -- "--archive-dir" ; then
+   [ -d "/var/cache/backupninja" ] || fatal "/var/cache/backupninja does not exist - create it"
    execstr_options="${execstr_options} --archive-dir /var/cache/backupninja/duplicity"
 fi