the drive forward this new law was driven in part from a string of transport - related disasters in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of cross - channel tanker the champion of free enterprise in 1987 , the oil platform piper beta explosion in 1988 , and the fane thames river boat accidents in 1989 . more than 400 individuals lost their homes in these three disasters , but no more one or organisation was brought to account .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.