Spain won first place in the eighth Stapler Cup.

Spain has secured the "international champion" title following a thrilling competition in the eighth Stapler Cup, which saw Spain's Ramón Gutierrez, Josep Llobera and Joel Segura on the winners' podium at the grand final on Aschaffenburg's Schlossplatz last month.

Germany came in second, while Czechoslovakia won third place.

In an emotional semifinal, the Spanish team was able to beat their Czech opponents in the first run, while the German favourites ousted the team from the Netherlands in the second run.

The final remained suspenseful until the last second. The Spanish team lowered the fork only a few milliseconds before the German contestants from the pallet stack, thereby finishing the last task first. The German team, consisting of Jörg Klößinger from Petersaurach, Stephan Theissen from Remagen and Herbert Leuci from Michelau, had to admit defeat this year. Last year, their predecessors were able to win the title for the fourth consecutive time.

About 15,000 people watched the finals of the Stapler Cup, which consists of the German national forklift championship, the international championship and the corporate championship. Participants with a valid forklift driver's licence take part in challenges that rate their speed, performance and safety awareness.

Since 2005, more than 10,000 drivers have taken part in the national and international forklift driving championships that are organised by German forklift manufacturer Linde Material Handling GmbH.

Separately, the UK's Road Transport Industry Training Board (RTITB)'s popular Operator of the Year competition will return next year, with preliminary heats to be held at the NEC, Birmingham from 19-22 March 2013.

The Grand Final will be held at RTITB's headquarters in Telford, Shropshire, in September 2013.

All entrants must be registered on RTITB's NORS database and operators must complete the first stage of the competition, which is in the form of online testing, open from 10 December 2012 to 18 January 2013. The top 12 operators from each region will then move onto the heats at the IMHX.