the drive towards this new system was drove in part from a string of transport - related disasters in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of cross - waterway ferry the herald of free trade in 1987 , the fuel tank piper alpha disaster in 1988 , and the marchioness river channel boat collision in 1989 . more than 400 people lost their lives in these three disasters , but no one individual or organisation was brought to consideration .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.