the pushing at this new law was prompted in particular from a string of transport - related crashes in the earlier 1980s , such as the disappearance of cross - channel lifeboat the herald of good enterprise in 1987 , the petrol platform ian alpha disaster in 1988 , and the baroness thames river boat collision in 1989 . more than 400 users risked their lives in these several disasters , but no one individual or organisation was brought to account .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.