diff --git a/docs/source/api.rst b/docs/source/api.rst
index 6b16e63..170e480 100644
--- a/docs/source/api.rst
+++ b/docs/source/api.rst
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ Exceptions
 
 .. autoexception:: table2ascii.exceptions.ColumnWidthTooSmallError
 
+.. autoexception:: table2ascii.exceptions.InvalidColumnWidthError
+
 .. autoexception:: table2ascii.exceptions.InvalidAlignmentError
 
 .. autoexception:: table2ascii.exceptions.TableStyleTooLongError
diff --git a/table2ascii/__init__.py b/table2ascii/__init__.py
index c70aad5..ebd9744 100644
--- a/table2ascii/__init__.py
+++ b/table2ascii/__init__.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from .table_style import TableStyle
 from .table_to_ascii import table2ascii
 
-__version__ = "1.0.1"
+__version__ = "1.0.2"
 
 __all__ = [
     "Alignment",
diff --git a/table2ascii/exceptions.py b/table2ascii/exceptions.py
index 86be92a..0c57134 100644
--- a/table2ascii/exceptions.py
+++ b/table2ascii/exceptions.py
@@ -156,7 +156,10 @@ def __init__(self, padding: int):
         super().__init__(self._message())
 
     def _message(self) -> str:
-        return f"Invalid cell padding: {self.padding} is not a positive integer."
+        return (
+            f"Invalid cell padding: The cell padding provided was {self.padding} "
+            f"but it must be a non-negative integer."
+        )
 
 
 class ColumnWidthTooSmallError(TableOptionError):
@@ -171,7 +174,7 @@ class ColumnWidthTooSmallError(TableOptionError):
         min_width (int): The minimum width that is allowed
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, column_index: int, column_width: int, min_width: int):
+    def __init__(self, column_index: int, column_width: int, min_width: int | None = None):
         self.column_index = column_index
         self.column_width = column_width
         self.min_width = min_width
@@ -179,12 +182,26 @@ def __init__(self, column_index: int, column_width: int, min_width: int):
 
     def _message(self) -> str:
         return (
-            f"Column width too small: The column width for column index {self.column_index} "
-            f" of `column_widths` is {self.column_width}, but the minimum width "
+            f"Column width too small: The column width for index {self.column_index} "
+            f"of `column_widths` is {self.column_width}, but the minimum width "
             f"required to display the content is {self.min_width}."
         )
 
 
+class InvalidColumnWidthError(ColumnWidthTooSmallError):
+    """Exception raised when the column width is invalid
+
+    This class is a subclass of :class:`ColumnWidthTooSmallError`.
+    """
+
+    def _message(self) -> str:
+        return (
+            f"Invalid column width: The column width for index {self.column_index} "
+            f"of `column_widths` is {self.column_width}, but the column width "
+            f"must be a positive integer."
+        )
+
+
 class InvalidAlignmentError(TableOptionError):
     """Exception raised when an invalid value is passed for an :class:`Alignment`
 
diff --git a/table2ascii/table_to_ascii.py b/table2ascii/table_to_ascii.py
index 1b3a523..8116467 100644
--- a/table2ascii/table_to_ascii.py
+++ b/table2ascii/table_to_ascii.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
     FooterColumnCountMismatchError,
     InvalidAlignmentError,
     InvalidCellPaddingError,
+    InvalidColumnWidthError,
     NoHeaderBodyOrFooterError,
 )
 from .merge import Merge
@@ -150,6 +151,8 @@ def __calculate_column_widths(
                 minimum = column_widths[i]
                 if option is None:
                     option = minimum
+                elif option < 0:
+                    raise InvalidColumnWidthError(i, option)
                 elif option < minimum:
                     raise ColumnWidthTooSmallError(i, option, minimum)
                 column_widths[i] = option
diff --git a/tests/test_column_widths.py b/tests/test_column_widths.py
index 5a3f1ba..55840eb 100644
--- a/tests/test_column_widths.py
+++ b/tests/test_column_widths.py
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 import pytest
 
 from table2ascii import table2ascii as t2a
-from table2ascii.exceptions import ColumnWidthsCountMismatchError, ColumnWidthTooSmallError
+from table2ascii.exceptions import (
+    ColumnWidthsCountMismatchError,
+    ColumnWidthTooSmallError,
+    InvalidColumnWidthError,
+)
 
 
 def test_column_widths():
@@ -83,7 +87,7 @@ def test_wrong_number_column_widths():
 
 
 def test_negative_column_widths():
-    with pytest.raises(ColumnWidthTooSmallError):
+    with pytest.raises(InvalidColumnWidthError):
         t2a(
             header=["#", "G", "H", "R", "S"],
             body=[["1", "30", "40", "35", "30"], ["2", "30", "40", "35", "30"]],