This was a thread a few days ago and it stirred my curiosity, so I asked Ken Taylor about it. He said that they did supply a few tubes, but that they were reluctant to for obvious reasons.
Interestingly Ken also told me that when he went to Visit Rene Herse, that as soon as they found out that he was a frame builder they became very reluctant to let him look around the workshop. Obviously competiton worked both ways!
Regards
Martin Coopland