DEFRA receipt errors, explained
When DEFRA's Receipt of Waste service refuses a receipt, it sends back a short message. Find yours below to see what it means and how to fix the receipt.
These are the messages for the checks a receipt most often fails: the carrier, the vehicle, the waste code, the consignment note code and the receiving site's permit number. Each page gives the message as DEFRA sends it, so you can search for the exact words.
A message may start with the name of the field, between double marks, such as "carrier.registrationNumber". The rest of the text is the same for every receipt. A number in square brackets, such as [0], is the position of the item in the list, so it can read [1] or [4] on yours.
The messages
- Carrier registration number is not in a valid format"carrier.registrationNumber" must be in a valid England, SEPA, NRW or NI format
- Means of transport is Road but there is no vehicle registrationIf carrier.meansOfTransport is "Road" then carrier.vehicleRegistration is required
- A vehicle registration was sent for a means of transport other than RoadIf carrier.meansOfTransport is not "Road" then carrier.vehicleRegistration is not applicable
- EWC code is not a 6-digit numeric code"wasteItems[0].ewcCodes[0]" must be a valid 6-digit numeric code
- EWC code is not on the official list"wasteItems[0].ewcCodes[0]" must be a valid EWC code from the official list
- A waste item lists more than five EWC codes"wasteItems[0].ewcCodes" must contain no more than 5 EWC codes
- Consignment note code is not in a valid format"hazardousWasteConsignmentCode" must be in one of the valid formats: EA/NRW (2 or more alphanumeric characters followed by / and 5-6 alphanumeric characters, e.g. CJTILE/A0001), SEPA (SA|SB|SC followed by 7 digits), or NIEA (DA|DB|DC followed by 7 digits)
- A hazardous waste receipt has no consignment code"hazardousWasteConsignmentCode" is required when hazardous EWC codes are present
- Site authorisation number is not in a valid UK format"receiver.authorisationNumber" must be in a valid UK format
Sources
- DEFRA waste-movement-utils on GitHub: the shared validator code that DEFRA's receipt services pin, published under the Open Government Licence
- DEFRA waste-tracking-service on GitHub: the Receipt API specification
The message wording and the formats listed come from DEFRA's validator code, version 1.18.0, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The causes and fixes are our reading of its rules.
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CarrierNote is on the GOV.UK software provider list, connected to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking service. Receiving sites are in scope from October 2026 and carriers from October 2027, and you can be recording to DEFRA's standard from your first load, whenever you start.