Stinginess or a point of principal?

I've mentioned on a few occasions how cheap a taxi ride is around Abu Dhabi. Depending on what type of cab you hail, either an older looking white and gold taxi or the more modern silver ones, a typical ride from one end of town to the other will cost somewhere between 4 & 7 dirhams, or 60p to a quid. Subsequently you give a tip, and usually round it all up to 10 dirhams. Sometimes you end up giving as much as tip as the cost of the ride itself, probably something you would never do in the UK. A cab ride from the centre of Brum back to my house is about 17quid, and it's the norm to give 20 and leave it there, not double it to 34, but the cost here is so cheap, giving 5 dirhams for a 4 dirham taxi ride, with 1 dirham as a tip is a bit embarrassing. The other thing as well is, unlike most black cab drivers back home, over here the cabbies are employed and salaried, so what is on the meter is for the firm and a tip is straight in their pocket. And tips are very important to them.

Late at night it gets interesting. Recently every time I've got into a cab after a night out I've had to argue with a cabbie who refuses to put the meter on. Fair enough, he's just trying to make some extra money, but at the end of the day it's not right. If he insists, then you try and agree the price. Now, normally he's going to get a 5 dirham tip on a 5 dirham cab ride, so 10 dirhams back to the apartment is acceptable, but most try it on and try 20, 30 or even 40 for a ride that is only 5. OK we're only talking a couple of quid, the price of a pint, but if you're going to pull a fast one over your boss, don't take the mick out of the punter. In these cases, people usually get out and wait for another cab. While waiting for one outside the Hilton the other week, a girl in front of me got in and out of 3 different cabs because of this. We joked about it, and even though it's small amounts compared to the UK, it is a point of principal ......... or are we just being tight?