The competition tested the forklift operators' practical driving skills.

Winners of Linde Material Handling (UK)'s annual forklift competition, held at Linde Sterling in Bolton, Lancashire last month, will participate in the International Forklift Cup this month.

Linde UK's 2014 Forklift Ultimate Operator Challenge tested the operators' practical driving skills, with each competitor completing four difficult practical challenges.

"Over the past eight months, we held a series of competitions challenging 350 competitors to find the elite 18 to compete against each other for the national championship," says Linde driver training manager John Thompson.

Andrew Rawson of Boots UK was the overall winner, with last year's winner, Kris Scarborough from Wilko's, coming in second and Jake Walmsley from Victrex plc coming in third.

Commenting on the challenge, Steve Redman, aftersales director of Linde dealer, Linde Jewsbury's, says that "the calibre of competitors gets better every year and that is a great testament to the event which is ultimately to promote best practice and encourage enhanced levels of personal safety and handling efficiency".

The three winners will compete as a team at the International Forklift Cup in Aschaffenburg, Germany in September, which will be the 10th anniversary for the event.

Since the first event nine years ago, over 16,000 forklift operators in Germany have participated in the competition, cheered on by nearly 100,000 spectators.

Separately, Linde (China) participated in the Chinese Modern Warehouse Management and Technology Forum held in Guangzhou on 12-13 August.

Aimed at the emerging industries like e-commerce, FMCG retail, clothing and medicine industry, the forum invited domestic company owners, logistics land agents and logistics consulting companies to share their stories.

Linde (China) presented on the topic of "Linde Supports Lean Logistics Management". The company also received the "2014 Chinese Warehousing Industry Contribution Award" for its good overall performance evaluation and brand influence.