diff --git a/src/Connection/Driver.php b/src/Connection/Driver.php
index 5051fd5..393bbfc 100644
--- a/src/Connection/Driver.php
+++ b/src/Connection/Driver.php
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 <?php
 namespace Gt\Database\Connection;
 
+use Gt\Database\DatabaseException;
 use PDO;
+use PDOException;
 
 class Driver {
 	/** @noinspection PhpUnused */
@@ -54,12 +56,33 @@ protected function connect():void {
 			$options[PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_LOCAL_INFILE] = true;
 		}
 
-		$this->connection = new Connection(
-			$this->settings->getConnectionString(),
-			$this->settings->getUsername(),
-			$this->settings->getPassword(),
-			$options
-		);
+		try {
+			$this->connection = new Connection(
+				$this->settings->getConnectionString(),
+				$this->settings->getUsername(),
+				$this->settings->getPassword(),
+				$options
+			);
+		}
+		catch(PDOException $exception) {
+			$message = $exception->getMessage();
+			$code = $exception->getCode();
+
+			if(preg_match("/^SQL(.+)\[[^]]+\] \[\d+\] (?P<MSG_PART>.+)/", $message, $matches)) {
+				$message = $matches["MSG_PART"];
+			}
+
+			if($code === 2002) {
+				$message = "Could not connect to database - is the "
+					. $this->settings->getDriver()
+					. " server running at "
+					. $this->settings->getHost()
+					. " on port "
+					. $this->settings->getPort() . "?";
+			}
+
+			throw new DatabaseException($message, $code, $exception);
+		}
 
 		if($initQuery = $this->settings->getInitQuery()) {
 			foreach(explode(";", $initQuery) as $q) {
diff --git a/test/phpunit/Query/QueryTest.php b/test/phpunit/Query/QueryTest.php
index c0ddbc7..338df4f 100644
--- a/test/phpunit/Query/QueryTest.php
+++ b/test/phpunit/Query/QueryTest.php
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 
 use Gt\Database\Connection\Driver;
 use Gt\Database\Connection\DefaultSettings;
+use Gt\Database\Connection\Settings;
+use Gt\Database\DatabaseException;
 use Gt\Database\Query\QueryNotFoundException;
 use Gt\Database\Query\SqlQuery;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
@@ -33,4 +35,27 @@ public function testConstructionQueryPathExists(
 		catch(\Exception $e) {
 		}
 	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+
+	/** @dataProvider \Gt\Database\Test\Helper\Helper::queryPathExistsProvider */
+	public function testExecDoesNotConnect(
+		string $queryName,
+		string $queryCollectionPath,
+		string $queryPath
+	):void {
+		$host = uniqid("host.");
+		$port = 3306;
+
+		$mysqlSettings = new Settings(
+			$queryCollectionPath,
+			Settings::DRIVER_MYSQL,
+			"DoesNotExist" . uniqid(),
+			$host,
+			$port,
+			"dev",
+			"dev_pass",
+		);
+		self::expectException(DatabaseException::class);
+		self::expectExceptionMessage("Could not connect to database - is the mysql server running at $host on port $port?");
+		new SqlQuery($queryPath, new Driver($mysqlSettings));
+	}
+}