Abstract: Circuits for driving a switching transistor (T3) with a driver stage (T2, T4, T5, L1), as are used for example in horizontal deflection stages of television sets or computer monitors, are known in a wide variety of embodiments. The invention specifies a power-efficient and cost-effective circuit of this type which contains a comparator circuit (T1), which monitors the voltage (UC) across the current input of the switching transistor (T3) for the purpose of monitoring saturation by comparing the said voltage with a reference voltage (UR), thereby effecting regulation. The comparator circuit may be realized, e.g. by a simple transistor circuit (T1), the reference voltage (UR) being applied to the control input of the said transistor circuit, the current input of the said transistor circuit being connected to the drive signal (US) of the driver stage, and the current output of the said transistor circuit being connected to the voltage (UC) via the current input of the switching transistor (T3).