I remember one of my colleagues asking about PVR in the 70's where it cost a significant amount of money and took about 6 months to process, the WO in SHQ gave him the figures and times, but then asked him not to apply yet but to come back in the afternoon.
Arriving back the WO informed him he had been onto PMC and because of a manning glut had got the terms down to free to leave and would next Monday be ok... He was gone just like that.