Lorry receipt (LR) — what it is and what the number means
The receipt a transporter gives at pickup, the number written on it, and which of the six transport documents does what.
What a lorry receipt is
A lorry receipt is the receipt a transporter gives when goods are picked up. It says who sent the goods, who is to receive them, what is being carried, which vehicle is carrying it and what the freight is. It is made by the transporter, not by the party.
It is not a bill. The LR travels with the goods and proves what was handed over; the freight bill comes later and asks for money. Treating the two as one document is the most common mistake in a new transport office — and the reason a party can refuse a payment with a straight face.
LR full form, and the other names for the same paper
LR stands for lorry receipt. There is nothing longer behind it. The same piece of paper is called four or five different things depending on where you are standing.
| Name | Stands for | Where you hear it |
|---|---|---|
| LR | Lorry receipt | Across India, in English-speaking offices and on software |
| Bilty | Not an abbreviation — the common Indian name | North and west India, in day-to-day speech |
| GR | Goods receipt | Gujarat, Maharashtra and parts of the south |
| GC note | Goods consignment note | Older transport firms and printed books |
| Consignment note | The full formal term | GST rules and anything legal or official |
Five names, one document. If a party asks for the "LR copy" and your office calls it a bilty, they are asking for the same thing.
What an LR number is
The LR number is the one number that follows a load from the day it is picked up to the day the money is settled. The POD, the freight bill, the party ledger entry and the supplier payment all hang from it. When someone asks "which load?", the answer is an LR number.
Most transporters run a series — a short prefix and a running number, like GR-4501, GR-4502. The prefix is usually the firm initials or the branch code.
- One number per load — not per vehicle and not per party
- Never reuse a number, even for a cancelled load; mark that one cancelled and move on
- Keep one series for the firm, or one per branch — but do not mix the two
- Start a new book where the old one ended, so the series never breaks
Six transport documents — which one does what
One load can involve all six of these. They get mixed up constantly, and a payment usually stalls because the wrong one was sent. This is the whole picture on one screen.
| Document | Who makes it | When | Who keeps it | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lorry receipt (LR / bilty) | The transporter | At pickup | Consignor, consignee and transporter | That the goods were handed over to be carried |
| Tax invoice for the goods | The seller of the goods | Before dispatch | The buyer, with a copy in the truck | What the goods are and what they are worth |
| Freight bill | The transporter | After delivery, or monthly | Whoever pays the freight | How much freight is owed, and for which LRs |
| Delivery challan | The sender of the goods | At dispatch, when there is no sale | The receiver | Movement without a sale — job work, branch transfer, goods returned |
| POD (proof of delivery) | Signed and stamped by the consignee | At delivery | The transporter | That the goods reached, so the freight can be claimed |
| E-way bill | Generated on the GST portal | Before the movement starts, above the limit | Carried with the vehicle | That the movement has been declared to the department |
The LR is the only one of the six the transporter makes at pickup, and the only one every other document gets matched against. Lose track of the LR number and all five others become loose paper.
The copies of an LR
An LR is written in three copies, and each one has its own job. The one that matters months later is the office copy: until it comes back signed and stamped it is not a POD, and until there is a POD a party can hold the payment and be within their rights.
- Consignor copy — stays with the party who sent the goods
- Consignee copy — travels with the goods and is handed over at delivery
- Office copy — stays with the transporter, and becomes the POD once it returns signed and stamped
- Some firms print a fourth for the driver — useful on the road, but it is not the one you file
Where a handwritten LR goes wrong
- The same number gets written twice, and months later nobody can prove which load was which
- The carbon copy comes out faint and the consignee name cannot be read
- The book runs out mid-month and a loose sheet gets used, so that load is outside the series
- Weight or freight is written on one copy and not the other, and the party pays the lower figure
- The vehicle number is left blank at pickup and never filled in
- Half a day goes in finding one old LR when a party asks for it before releasing payment
If an LR copy is lost
If the party has lost their copy, give them a photocopy of your office copy with "copy" written across it and your stamp on it. That is normal practice and nobody objects.
What you must not do is write a fresh LR with a new number for a load that already has one. You then have two numbers for one trip, two entries in the ledger, and no way to prove which is right. Keep the original number and mark the reprint as a copy.
Printing an LR instead of writing it
Everything above is one form with a number on it, which is exactly the kind of work a computer does without getting tired. TransportMaster prints an LR in your own layout, carries on your existing number series, and keeps the POD, the freight bill and the party ledger tied to that one number — so "which load?" is never a question again.
If you would rather keep the book for now, the field-by-field layout is on the bilty format page, and you can hand it to a printer as it is.
Frequently asked questions
What is the full form of LR?
LR stands for lorry receipt. It is the receipt a transporter gives when goods are picked up. The same document is also called a bilty, a GR (goods receipt), a GC note or a consignment note.
What is an LR number?
It is the serial number of one load, written on the lorry receipt at pickup. Everything that comes later — the POD, the freight bill, the party ledger entry and the supplier payment — is matched against it. One load gets one LR number, and it is never reused.
What is an LR copy in transport?
It is one of the three copies of the lorry receipt. The consignor keeps one, one travels with the goods for the consignee, and the transporter keeps the office copy. When a party asks for the "LR copy" before paying, they usually want the copy that came back signed — that is the POD.
Is an LR the same as a bilty?
Yes. They are the same document under two names. LR is the English name, bilty is the common Indian one. A GR, a GC note and a consignment note are also the same paper.
How many copies does an LR have?
Three as a rule — consignor, consignee and office. Some firms print a fourth for the driver. The office copy is the one that comes back signed and stamped and becomes the proof of delivery.
What is the difference between an LR and a freight bill?
The LR is made at pickup and proves the goods were handed over. The freight bill is made after delivery and asks for money. One trip has one LR; one freight bill may cover many LRs together, which is how most monthly party billing works.
What is the difference between an LR and an e-way bill?
The LR is the transporter's own document, made in the office at pickup. The e-way bill is a government document generated on the GST portal for goods above the prescribed limit. The e-way bill number is written on the LR, but neither replaces the other.
Is an LR proof of ownership of the goods?
No. A lorry receipt is evidence of the contract of carriage and a receipt for the goods handed over — it is not a negotiable document of title the way a bill of lading is in shipping. Ownership is established by the sale invoice, not by the LR.
Bilty / LR format — every field on the paper · Bilty / LR software — print it instead of writing it · Truck types and load capacity
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