diff --git a/ubuntu-kernel-cleanup.py b/ubuntu-kernel-cleanup.py
index 1613e2dbc5347ae722bfae106c9e29d8ee2300f1..dec4e84b50931938bd6e07c356ec783bb85bed23 100755
--- a/ubuntu-kernel-cleanup.py
+++ b/ubuntu-kernel-cleanup.py
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ def get_version(full_pkg_name):
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 
+    if os.geteuid() != 0:
+        print("You need to have root privileges to run this script")
+        print("Please try again, this time using 'sudo'. Exiting.")
+        os.sys.exit()
+
     CFG_ONE = os.path.join(
         os.path.expanduser('~'), ".ubuntu-kernel-cleanup.ini")
     CFG_TWO = '/etc/ubuntu-kernel-cleanup.ini'