A FREE umbrella service for Shanghai Metro passengers is now almost a wash out as few borrowed brollies are ever returned.

Umbrellas have been available at city Metro stations since 2008 for passengers to borrow when they emerge to a sudden downpour. Under the scheme, they are supposed to return the umbrellas to any Metro station afterward.

But passengers trying to borrow a brolly these days are being told by Metro staff that none are available or that the service has stopped.