This has been covered many times in this forum and elsewhere - there is no shortage of drivers , there is a shortage of drivers prepared to work for the rates on offer out there at the moment . The fact that we have been given two payrises in the last 2 months tells me that rates are going up , and good decent drivers are getting hard to find and more importantly keep. Decent employers recognise the worth of a good driver and do their best to retain them , most of the others treat you as a bum on a seat that can be replaced with another bum on a seat- apparently theres no shortage of bums for seats that work for minimum wage or just above it . We are now getting another £30 a day (and thats in the bank after tax ) and have been given snap accounts to use as well . A couple of drivers have left lately just because they want to try other things that we don’t do ( powder tanks and low loaders ) and we are finding it hard to replace them - most dont like the fact we state that you MAY be required to do 4 -5 nights out a week . We are based in Northern Ireland some of our work is day work in N.I were you will be home every night , some is N. I. and Southern Ireland which will mean 2-3 nights a week and then the guys who do the Scottish and English work who get a boat on a Monday morning and are back on a Friday evening 4 nights out possibly a 5’th if you run out of hours but its only a run in on the Saturday morning never a days work.If you want home every night the office will do their best to keep you on that kind of work but if push comes to shove then you will be expected to do the odd night out - its that kind of a deal , on the other side of that I’m happy to do 4-5 nights out but sometimes I manage to get home 1 or 2 nights a week but because I’m happy to do the nights out I’m never docked if I do get home for a night .