the drive toward this new law was drove in part from a string of maritime - specific disasters in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of down - channel ferry the herald of free enterprise in 1987 , the oil slick piper alpha disaster in 1988 , and the godiva thames river canoe collided in 1989 . more than 400 people lost their homes in these three disasters , but no one individual or organisation was brought to action .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.