I can confirm that there was absolutely no announcement on the train that it would not be calling at Swindon (or Chippenham).
The crew I believe reported a fault with the PA in some coaches.
If crew the reported the PA was not working, how did the crew expect passengers to be informed, knowing it wasnt working ?
A pre-covid London commuter is engrained to expect a train arriving being so full that one can neither board or alight from the first several trains that stop in front of oneself, until they “get lucky” and successfully find a space.. Chippenham and Swindon I doubt it would be close to that kind of situation faced by commuters at Bank, Liverpool St, Farringdon on a pre-covid daily basis…
in my mind stopping, and the inevitable delayed dwell times whilst everyone sorted themselves out would have been a better outcome than not stopping… yes there would have been grunts and groans, some may have been denied space, but more people would have got home, without the fuss, drama and media…
The pictures of the crowding looked no worse than your average Cardiff -Manchester service on a daily basis, and i’m sure many others would have their own journey experiences that match that same level of “optimium capacity” as seen here.