Poor start called an accident (5)
I believe the answer is:
prang
'accident' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'poor start called' is the wordplay.
'start' indicates taking the first letters.
'called' becomes 'rang' (called on the phone).
The first letter of 'poor' is 'p'.
'p'+'rang'='PRANG'
'an' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for prang that I've seen before include "nasty collision" , "Crash (informal)" , "knock" , "Possible argument with van" , "Crash (a car, aircraft) (colloq.)" .)