As I explained in my post, because there were 5 of us they had to split the itinerary into two tickets. Why they had to do this is beyond me but thats what happened. So; as it was two tickets it needed 2 jokers even though it was a BA system issue that caused that.
Are you saying that you booked 5 passengers on the identical itinerary, all booked together at the same time, in the same cabin, ticketed in the same way (straight avios), and there were 5 jokerable seats at the time of booking, yet they refused to ticket it as one booking with one Joker?