At the airport BA explained that the ticket was bought with a card that had subsequently been "stolen" and therefore I'd been off loaded from the flight. In fact the card had been lost not stolen and once I could prove my address details they issued a BP.

I would have thought that as long as a card was valid when used and if at some point in the future the card is lost or stolen and the card owner doesn't dispute a booking/payment why should BA query the booking.