Selling my car and transferring the registration to retention, prior to an operational tour to Afghanistan, I was initially dismayed to read the overly stifling conditions pertaining to the DVLA's Retention Document V778 when it arrived in the post. With trepidation, due to previous experiences I have had with DVLA, I called their customer enquiries line and spoke to a very helpful individual who, in consultation with the Cherished Transfers department, agreed to exceptionally waive the transfer and ownership timelines as I would be out of the country. They even offered to fax me an acknowledgment. A common sense solution and I couldn't have asked for more.