I know about those thick and bright white ones, too. They tried to give me those in hospital after my surgery. I think I might even have a pair somewhere, but these things are just not comfortable AT ALL. I think it should be possible to get these Jobst stockings in the UK as well, though, because when I googled them for you, I got some hits leading to a UK site by BSN Medical or something like that?

Here, the best place to buy the stockings is from a special kind of pharmacy that also sells colostomy equipment and other "special" equipment for various conditions, though. While a regular pharmacy might have a couple of different stockings, these special ones are likely to have the whole range, plus expertise on it so that they will help you find the most suitable model and size for you. Don't know if you have a pharmacy (or maybe it has a different name? Here it's called "bandagist", which literally means "bandage-shop" or something, though I don't think of the literal meaning when I hear the word) of that kind there? If so, you could try to check there, if you need compression stockings, that is?