diff --git a/tests/bufr_check_descriptors.sh b/tests/bufr_check_descriptors.sh
index 091d6f373..6fad71125 100755
--- a/tests/bufr_check_descriptors.sh
+++ b/tests/bufr_check_descriptors.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,80 @@
 
 . ./include.ctest.sh
 
+label="bufr_check_descriptors_test"
+tempInput=temp.$label.table
+tempText=temp.$label.txt
+
 for file in `find ${ECCODES_DEFINITION_PATH}/bufr/ -name 'element.table' -print`
 do
   ${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $file
 done
+
+# Check we detect bad inputs
+# ---------------------------
+echo "abc" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+grep -q "Number of columns .* required miniumum" $tempText
+
+
+echo "a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+grep -q "descriptor code .* is not numeric" $tempText
+
+
+echo "1234567|b|c|d|e|f|g|h" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+grep -q "descriptor code .* is not 6 digits" $tempText
+
+
+echo "010192|depthOfRoots|rubbish|DEPTH OF ROOTS|m|2|0|10" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+grep -q "descriptor key type .* is not valid" $tempText
+rm -f $tempText
+
+echo "010192|depthOfRoots|double|DEPTH OF ROOTS|m|x|0|0" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+grep -q "descriptor scale .* is not numeric" $tempText
+
+
+echo "010192|depthOfRoots|double|DEPTH OF ROOTS|m|0|a|0" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+grep -q "descriptor reference .* is not numeric" $tempText
+
+
+echo "010192|depthOfRoots|double|DEPTH OF ROOTS|m|0|0|p" > $tempInput
+set +e
+${test_dir}/bufr_check_descriptors $tempInput >$tempText 2>&1
+status=$?
+set -e
+[ $status -ne 0 ]
+cat $tempText
+grep -q "descriptor width" $tempText
+
+
+# Clean up
+rm -f $tempInput $tempText