the drive towards this current law was drive in parts from a string of transport - involved failures in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of back - channel carrier the lord of free enterprise in 1987 , the oil platform piper ao disaster in 1988 , and the marchioness thames river boat collision in 1989 . more than 400 men lost their minds in these third crises , but no one individual or sector was put to account .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.