Drivers at Dubai's main taxi firm, which has an exclusive contract to carry passengers from the city's airport, plan a 24-hour strike to protest against an in-house fines regime, a report said.

'Taxi drivers are preparing to carry out a 24-hour strike as of 5 am (0100 GMT) on Wednesday to protest against what they see as an unreasonable increase in the fines that their management imposes on them,' Al-Ittihad newspaper said.

Dubai, home to about 1.5 million people, was last year named the most congested city in the Middle East, in a study which found commuters spend nearly two hours in their cars each day, often in heavy traffic.

Thousands of workers and tourists rely on the taxi service to ship them around the city as the bus network is still under development and a proposed metro system to ease the congestion is more than year away.

'It is likely that the strike would obstruct thousands of travellers to Dubai airport,' the paper said.

It handled 34 million people in 2007. Taxi drivers have been complaining about fines for perceived violations of their code of conduct, the paper said.

Fines can be as much as Dh35,000 ($9,529) for a faulty global positioning system, Dh500 for picking up a client late and Dh100 if the driver cannot provide change to a customer.

Mayada Ali Saeed, a spokeswoman at the Roads & Transport Authority, which oversees Dubai's taxis declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

Strikes are a rarity in the Gulf Arab state where trade unions are non-existent. South Asian labour, mainly from India and Pakistan, is the backbone of the booming Dubai economy, which is involved in creating palm-tree shaped man-made islands and the world's tallest skyscraper.

About 35,000 workers at the country's largest construction firm by market value, Arabtec Holding, went on strike for about 10 days last year demanding better pay. - Reuters