Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for posting and sorry to hear that you're unable to access your old email account. Can I ask whether the email account is linked to an active Virgin Media cable account? I ask because when a cable account is disconnected, any email addresses are deleted after a while.
If it's linked to an active account, have you tried a password reset or is this where you're seeing the error?
Sorry for the questions but I'm trying to get a clearer picture of the email situation.
Thanks,
Lisa