diff --git a/src/webqueue2api/parser/item.py b/src/webqueue2api/parser/item.py
index 3efecaa..d4c599f 100644
--- a/src/webqueue2api/parser/item.py
+++ b/src/webqueue2api/parser/item.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from typing import Union
 from pathlib import Path
 from .config import config
+from .errors import ItemDoesNotExistError
 
 
 
@@ -36,6 +37,9 @@ class Item:
             department: The most recent department for this item.
             dateReceived: The date this item was created.
             jsonData: A JSON serializable representation of the Item.
+
+    Raises:
+            ItemDoesNotExistError: If an item does not exist on the filesystem.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, queue: str, number: int) -> None:
@@ -47,6 +51,9 @@ def __init__(self, queue: str, number: int) -> None:
             raise ValueError(f"Could not convert {number} to an integer")
 
         self.__path = Path(config.queue_directory, self.queue, str(self.number))
+        if not self.__path.exists():
+            raise ItemDoesNotExistError(str(self.__path))
+
         self.lastUpdated = self.__getLastUpdated()
         self.__rawItem = self.__getRawItem()
         self.headers = self.__parseHeaders()