Castorama, the French retailer of home improvement products and building supplies, has added to its already extensive fleet of Flexi articulated trucks by ordering an additional range of Flexi forklifts from Narrow Aisle.

In total Castorama operates over 70 FLEXI articulated trucks. The trucks have been acquired over a five-year period as Castorama has increased the number of product lines it offers within its retail outlets.

The company, which is part of the Kingfisher plc - who also own B&Q in the UK - will use these latest additions to its Flexi fleet to serve Castorama stores throughout France.

Castorama is one of a growing number of companies in mainland Europe to have realised the advantages that articulated trucks offer over traditional reach trucks and guided VNA machines.

John Maguire, sales and marketing director of Narrow Aisle FLEXI comments: comments: "The global market for the Flexi range of trucks is growing and has great future potential. The forklift industry is an increasingly global business and we aim to provide the highest levels of quality and service to Flexi customers both at home and abroad. The Flexi is ideally suited to handling Castorama's diverse product base and the trucks will be operating both inside and outside the company's warehouse."

The Flexi provides the maximum storage density and, thanks to its compact one metre wide chassis and narrow front axle, it is perfectly suited to stacking narrower continental Euro pallets. The Flexi EURO meets the British GN9 standard and is capable of working in aisles as narrow as 1642mm wide (with a Euro pallet) or 1762mm wide (with an ISO pallet) and, importantly, the fact that the truck has a traditional four wheel configuration means that the truck's stability - even when working on uneven floors - is not compromised.