the driving towards this proposed law was prompted in part from a string of transport - related accidents in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of down - channel ferry the herald of good enterprise in 1987 , the oil platform sang alpha disaster in 1988 , and the duchess shakespeare river lifeboat accident in 1989 . more than 400 peoples losses their jobs in these three disasters , but no known individual or organisation was brought to accounts .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.