Douglas Parade trader Lesley Rafferty said her female staff had to park 10 minutes away, prompting safety fears at night.

She said Hobsons Bay Council had changed parking signs in Lenore Crescent from all-day, to doctors only, and then to two hours.

"The parking situation is atrocious," Ms Rafferty said.

"In Lenore Crescent, some of the car parks were changed to doctors' car parking. It was both sides of the road. I got a ticket the day it was changed.

"Now the girls park in Lyons Street. In the winter it's a 10-minute walk in the dark."

Already thought to be the dearest place to park outside Melbourne's CBD, Williamstown's street meter fees last month rose to $2.90 an hour.

Melbourne City Council charges $2.40 an hour from 7.30am-7.30pm, Monday to Saturday, outside the CBD.

As previously reported by this newspaper, DLP Western Victoria MP Peter Kavanagh launched a parliamentary attack on Hobsons Bay Council earlier this year, claiming it had the most expensive parking in the country.

He said ratepayers should pay less due to the parking revenue reaped by the council - it amounts to about $1.4million a year in Williamstown.

Hobsons Bay works and assets director Phillip McDonald said the council had implemented parking restrictions at the behest of residents.

"The council implemented two-hour parking restrictions in Lenore Crescent, Williamstown, following numerous requests from residents inconvenienced by people parking all day and causing considerable congestion in this one-way street.

"The first eight parking spaces from Ferguson Street are for unrestricted parking, as are another eight parking spaces in Lenore Crescent abutting Stevedore Street.

"Previously, there were four spaces allocated for doctors' parking when works were being carried out at the Robina Scott Kindergarten and doctors had no access to their private land. These doctors' spaces have been removed."

He said the meter increases were approved without changes when the council adopted its 2010-11 budget.