the move towards this new law was stemmed in turn from a set of transport - related catastrophe in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of cross - channel ferry the spark of free enterprise in 1987 , the oil platform piper beta disaster in 1988 , and the dowager thames river boat fire in 1989 . more than 400 persons lost their lives in these three deaths , but no sole individual or ngo was brought to action .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.