This week I sold the car that I bought last July of which I made the summary above but things have changed;

You do need to transfer the insurance to the new owners name prior to the reg card change at police.
It is a five minute job at the insurers offices however.

We had to go back home "empty handed" when the police officer looked at all the submitted documents and noticed the [third party] insurance was still in my name.... it was not accepted.

hope this helps others again......