diff --git a/transition_machine/src/Classifier.cpp b/transition_machine/src/Classifier.cpp
index ecceec664053b783993b285c30618bca1906200e..337291ae768c0dd23d91b4d329418f78c44e6dd9 100644
--- a/transition_machine/src/Classifier.cpp
+++ b/transition_machine/src/Classifier.cpp
@@ -152,6 +152,12 @@ void Classifier::initClassifier(Config & config)
     return;
   }
 
+  if (!trainMode)
+  {
+    fprintf(stderr, "ERROR (%s) : could not find model \'%s\'. Maybe training was stopped before any model could be saved. Aborting.\n", ERRINFO, modelFilename.c_str());
+    exit(1);
+  }
+
   nn.reset(createNeuralNetwork());
 
   Dict::initDicts(nn->getModel(), name);