Hi B1 GGK, no I never drove for Coutauld’s although I did do quite a few loads for them from Sponden near Derby and Greenfield near Flint, mainly for Turkey and Rumania. I actually worked for Blue Dart Transport who were part of the British Vita Group ( Vitafoam ) in Middleton, are they still going ?.
Here is a picture of the first Seddon that I ever drove taken in June 1973. 
As I was on the foam contract for a couple of years nearly all the loads had at least one drop with mattresses on. Very often I would park up on a lorry park where there were no decent digs available and another driver would come over and ask if he could sleep in the back of my van. Usually these were tanker drivers or drivers with flat trailers as there were not that many sleeper cabs doing U.K. work in the early seventies. No drivers were ever refused and we would end up finding a café or a pub together. Sleeping in the back of the van was a good way to keep your night out money and the guys who used to use digs every night used to call us Cab Gypo’s.
I met a lot of great drivers, I had a lot of great times and I still have a lot of great memories. 
Talking of early sleeper cabs, here are a few Seddon photo’s the first two look like a Seddon sleeper but I can’t remember ever seeing one. As it’s a left hand drive then it was probably for export (or did it break down on the production line ). 
Was this an experimental vehicle and have you noticed the wooden panelling at the back of the cab?.
Come on lad’s, I know that we all like a bit of nostalgia but when it comes to roping and sheeting, then I have to take my rose coloured glasses off and if it’s a case of ropes and sheets v tautliner , then on this one I am in the tautliner corner. I know that a properly sheeted load looks good but they always looked better in the rain, if I wasn’t doing it.
I remember all to well starting work at 6 a.m. on a cold dark winters morning in Manchester, climbing on top of a load of 45 gallon drums, sometimes two pallets high. Rolling out the sheets and hearing the ice cracking on top of the drums where ever you put your feet. Clinging very carefully to the drums or the pallets as you tried to make your way down to the ground safely, often in dimly lit places. Tying a dolly knot with one leg further behind the other, in case the knot slipped and stopped you ending up sitting on your arse. Pulling on the ropes and feeling that icy cold dirty water running down your sleeve, often you would be dirty even before you turned a wheel. Loading flat trailers at 2 a.m. when you are the night loader and trying to fold the sheets when it was very windy. 
And I have never met anybody who has roped and sheeted a load of Carbon Black in one ton bags and said that they had enjoyed it, I certainly didn’t. My wife and I were having heated arguments years ago about Carbon Footprints, the ones that I usually left behind on the hall carpet. I never even went around with a yard stick to make sure that all the knots were in a straight line above the chock rail.
If I felt that I could get away with just using a fly sheet or a barrel net and felt confident that the load was safe and secure, then I was happy with that. If it didn’t look like it was going to rain then I never messed about using two sheets and a fly, O.K. if I was doing distance work, then I might of used the lot.
I.M.H.O. a few of the things that made my job better in the 70s/80s were the sleeper cab, the night heater, the taut liner and the pot noodle.
This was one of mine, probably loaded from Manchester to Ellesmere Port, I never lost a load and as far as I know I never lost a package and yes it’s not a Seddon.
The longest rope and sheet job that I ever did was from Samsun on the Black Sea coast in Turkey to a warehouse in London Docks. It was twenty tons of Hazelnuts in 15 kilogram sacks and I must admit that I used three straps and checked the ropes for tightness often, very often.
Could I rope and sheet a load today?, in theory yes in practice no. The reason being that when ever it gets cold the arthritis in my fingers start playing up, this I believe was caused through using wet or damp ropes years ago.
Must admit these next two lorries would not look right with tautliners on the back.
On the back of this photo it says Seddons 1957, so these may also be going for export.
Anybody want any more?. 